Date:	Sunday, July 2, 2023, at 12:40 p.m.
District:	05 – Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Cruz Counties
Contact:	Kevin Drabinski or Alexa Bertola
Phone:	(805) 549-3138 or (805) 549-3237

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

UPDATE #44

SINKHOLE ON HIGHWAY 1 MOVES SOUTHERN CLOSURE

SOUTHTO PACIFIC VALLEY

MONTEREY / SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTIES – The southern closure of Highway 1 was moved south today, from Limekiln State Park in Monterey County at Post Mile 21.2 to Pacific Valley at PM 16, due to a sinkhole which appeared on the center line of the roadway at PM 17.96.

The location of the sinkhole at PM 17.96 is one mile south of Nacimiento-Fergusson Road. The closure of Highway 1 at Pacific Valley provides adequate room for large vehicles and trucks to safely turn around.

Contracted crews are in route to the site to make assessments and begin repairs. Updates will be provided when the repairs are complete, and the southern closure can be moved north again to Limekiln.

Road information and updates can also be found on Caltrans District 5 Social Media platforms: Twitter at: @CaltransD5, Facebook at: Caltrans Central Coast (District 5) and Instagram at: Caltrans_D5.

“Trees are sanctuaries. 

Whoever knows how to speak to them, 

whoever knows how to listen to them, 

can learn the truth.”

― Herman Hesse

In 1971, the Supervisor of the Willow Springs Station, and original road warrior, Rock Knocker’s boss, wrote an 11 page paper in which he describes how areas along Highway One, particularly slides, got their names. This one was originally call Big Slide. This is what Don Harlan wrote:

Big Slide – is where over 250,000 cubic yards dumped itself in 1952, or so. It closed the road for over a month and was more fun to watch than television could ever be! When the 4 D-8s quit at night you couldn’t tell whaat had been done. It kept on coming. No one ever figured out why it happened in a dry August or why it quit either. Residue from this slide, in later years, caused me to be unable to report for my first days work for the State. I couldn’t get through to Willow Springs. Papa Hudson let me get away with it and didn’t dock me!